Can I use a secret recording as evidence?

Before you submit a recording anywhere, check the points below. If you skip this, you may end up facing a complaint yourself while trying to submit evidence.

• Check whether you took part in the recorded conversation from start to finish.
• Listen through by time to see whether recording continued during any stretch when you were not there.
• Check whether it was made by hiding a recorder or installing an app on someone else's phone.
• Think back to whether you have already sent the file to or played it for anyone else.

What the Protection of Communications Secrets Act (통신비밀보호법) prohibits is recording a non-public conversation between other people. The Supreme Court held that when one of three people in a conversation records it, that is not a recording of a conversation between others (Supreme Court Decision 2006도4981, October 12, 2006).

So secretly recording verbal abuse your boss directed at you, or what someone said to you on a call, does not violate this law and can be submitted as evidence in court. However, spreading the recording can cause other problems such as defamation depending on its content, so submit it only where it needs to go.

Recording a conversation between others, for example with a recorder left running while you were away, a recorder hidden in a car or room, or a recorder put in a child's bag, can be punished by imprisonment of 1 to 10 years and suspension of qualifications of up to 5 years, with no fine available. Disclosing or leaking the content carries the same penalty.

Recordings obtained this way cannot be used as evidence in a trial or disciplinary proceedings. In a case where a parent put a recorder in their child's bag to record classroom conversations, the Supreme Court did in fact deny the recording's admissibility (Supreme Court Decision 2020도1538, January 11, 2024).

Leave the original file on your phone as it is, and back up a copy separately. If only an edited or trimmed file remains, you will be suspected of tampering.

When submitting to a court, it is usual to submit a transcript together with the recording. Noting the date, place and participants separately makes it easier to explain later.

If your recording app automatically uploads to the cloud, check where the original is stored. If you do not move the original before changing or resetting your phone, information such as when the file was created may be lost.

In cases such as an affair or abuse where you cannot be part of the conversation yourself, first look for materials you can obtain lawfully, such as text and messenger records, card statements, medical certificates and statements from people around you. If you are in a lawsuit, you can also obtain materials through the court, by a request for fact-finding or an order to produce documents.

If you have already recorded a conversation between other people, do not send or submit the file to anyone; get advice first.

A managing partner personally hears how the recording was made and listens to the file, then separates the parts you can submit as evidence from the risky parts. If you have already been accused because of a recording, we respond by preparing you for questioning, attending with you and submitting written opinions, and if your phone is seized, we apply to attend the forensics. To request a consultation, send us a message through the chat on this page.